Floresville finds itself in perfect position

Town is luring Eagle Ford's execs and managers.

Workers labor on a DC Builders home, one of several being built in the Abrego Lake subdivision north of Floresville. Eagle Ford shale executives and workers, as well as people working in San Antonio, are moving in.

Photo By Billy Calzada/San Antonio Express-News

In the Abrego Lake subdivision and at Eden Crossing in nearby LaVernia, the homes sit on mostly 1-acre lots and start in the mid-$200,000s.

Photo By Billy Calzada/San Antonio Express-News

Mike Newborn works on a home under construction in in the Abrego Lake neighborhood in Floresville on Friday, Aug. 31, 2012. Eagle Ford shale executives and workers, as well as people working in San Antonio, are moving in.

Photo By Billy Calzada/San Antonio Express-News

A home built by Mike Haberstroh General Contracting is almost complete in the Abrego Lake development in Floresville on Friday, Aug. 31, 2012. Eagle Ford shale executives and workers, as well as people working in San Antonio, are moving in.

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FLORESVILLE — Dottie Pundt's family has owned land here for 130 years, and for the first time she's sensing a real business opportunity.

Instead of relying on cattle grazing and hunting leases that just manage to pay the taxes, Pundt, her son and a business partner have built 20 cabins on her property, which fronts U.S. 181.

They're trying to capture some of the oil-field-related workers who are pouring into South Texas thanks to a drilling boom in the Eagle Ford Shale formation, which sweeps from the border across the state to East Texas.

But others have found success capturing a more elusive market — oil company mangers and executives who are buying permanent homes — at a time when many communities have seen just tent cities and overnight RV parks.

Floresville is finding itself in something of a sweet spot these days: within driving distance of shale work and about 25 miles southeast of San Antonio.

New home construction and the residential resale market have picked up thanks to the oil industry. Two hotels are under construction on U.S. 181 in Floresville and sales tax receipts by August were up 29 percent over the first eight months of 2011, according to the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts.

Pundt's Live Oak Lodges opened Aug. 3 and have been basically full since. At $100 a night, they include double beds, cable, Wi-Fi and a kitchenette and refrigerator.

“I'm hoping that this is the first time in my family's history that the land will be an asset and not a liability,” Pundt said.

Floresville has been able to capture part of the Eagle Ford market without becoming overrun with 18-wheeler traffic the way that many of the shale communities have been.

“We're in a perfect place,” said Pat Brown of Pat Brown Realtors. “It's been good for us, but it's manageable.”

Brown said the Eagle Ford Shale was more talk than action in Floresville until late last year.

“At first we kept thinking, ‘Are we missing out on something?' It's just getting better this year,” she said. “Overall, just little things are popping up here, there and yonder. It's not gangbusters, but we never do gangbusters.”

Kevin Brown, who is not related to Pat Brown, has been developing the Abrego Lake subdivision north of Floresville since 2006 and Eden Crossing in nearby LaVernia since late 2008. He initially thought both neighborhoods would attract mostly military and military retirees, but about half of the homebuyers have been oil company managers and executives instead.

The homes sit on mostly 1-acre lots and start in the mid-$200,000s, although most homes in the hilly, oak-tree dotted neighborhoods are priced in the $300,000s and higher.

“The last six months for us has been phenomenal,” Brown said. “The two years before that was the worst since '94.”

Home prices are rising, according to the San Antonio Board of Realtors' Multiple Listing Service. In Wilson County, the median price of a home in 2011 was $196,750 over the first five months of the year. During the same time period this year, it was $206,000.

The local rental home market has taken off as well, with prices for a three-bedroom, two-bath home between $1,500 and $1,800 a month, Brown said.

“The rental market is so incredibly tight. If something is on the market, it goes under lease in 10 minutes,” he said. “We've seen falling-down shacks rent at pretty good rates.”

Jeanine Schoenert of D&D Custom Homes expects to build around 23 homes this year — double her business three years ago. She works mostly in Floresville and LaVernia, although she also builds in areas such as Castroville and Boerne.

“I've seen a lot of cash buyers,” Schoenert said.

They're looking for access to San Antonio, the shale play and schools with a good reputation.

“They're very small schools. You know who your kids are hanging out with,” she said.

Custom builder Mike Haberstroh said that business isn't at the level it was in 2005 and 2006 yet, but that's fine for him. He stays busy building around 12 homes a year.